Abstract

The
current study explored the association between a large-scale federally funded
preschool intervention and the social and emotional development of
participants. Data were drawn from the
Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS) and included 1,378 primarily African American
youth who participated in the CLS and had scores for two or more identifiable
social and emotional competency indicators from age 7 through age 15. Findings suggest that program participation was
associated with both shorter- and longer-term social and emotional outcomes. The
effect sizes for the longer term were modest, and several remained above the
level considered practically significant (.20). The strongest short-term effect
was seen for social adjustment in school at ages 7 and 8-9 with d's of .45 and .33, respectively. These
include social adjustment in school (d
= .34), assertive social skills (d = .21),
task orientation (d = .21),
frustration tolerance (d = .22), and
peer social skills (d = .24).

Introduction

The
2002 National Survey of America's Families verified that 82% of 3- and
4-year-olds with employed mothers spend part of their day in nonparental care
(Barnett, Robin, Hustedt, &
Schulman, 2004). Of these children, two-thirds attend some form of
preschool intervention (Belsie, 2002).

As a result of the large proportion
of children in nonparental early childhood settings, policy makers and the
public have a strong interest in ensuring that early childhood interventions
are devised on a "results-based accountability" paradigm that not only mandates
that intervention programs be successful, but cost-effective. Because of this,
most research studies of early childhood intervention programs have focused on
clearly identifiable outcomes such as language development, prereading skills, letter knowledge, and numeracy (Reynolds, 2000; Schultz, 2000).

Policy makers and practitioners
alike have used this child-focused research base as their primary source of
evidence for assessing the efficacy of early childhood programs (Niles,
Reynolds, Ou, & Lee, 2003; Niles, 2004; Schultz,
2000). This is true despite the fact that early childhood intervention programs
also can contribute in important ways to the mental health of children by
enhancing the social and emotional development of the child (Niles,
Reynolds, Ou, & Lee, 2003; Niles, 2004; Reynolds,
2000; Schultz, 2000).

Although research is limited on the influence that early
childhood programs have on the social and emotional development of
preschool-age children, an important exception is the Family and Child
Experiences Survey (FACES) study that is currently being conducted by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. While the outcome measures were not
identical, the constructs of social and emotional development in the presented
study are consistent with the social and emotional domains measured in the
FACES study. These include early social skills, shyness, aggressiveness, and
hyperactive behaviors, among others (Zill et al., 2003).

The limited research on early
childhood programs takes on additional importance because it has been
suggested that 10% to 13% of preschoolers (ages 1 to 6 years old) have
diagnosed emotional or behavioral disorders (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Moreover, a large study of a pediatric sample of
more than 3,800 preschool-age children found that 21% met the criteria for a
psychiatric disorder, 9% of them for a severe disorder (Lavigne et al., 1996).

Given that a significant amount of
recent empirical evidence suggests that early childhood intervention has a
major impact on the cognitive and academic success of participants (see
Barnett, 1998; Currie, 2001; Karoly et al., 1998; Reynolds, 2000; van Ijzendoorn, 1998), this study
focuses on a less investigated, but equally important, topic: the impact of
early childhood intervention on children's social and emotional development. Two
questions are examined:

Is participation
in the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) preschool program associated with
indicators of children's social and emotional competence, including perceived
self-competence, social adjustment in the classroom, psycho-emotional
adjustment, and peer relationships?

Do the links
between CPC participation and social and emotional competence persist over
time?

Methods

Sample
Description

To be consistent with the terminology used by the Chicago
Public Schools, the terms intervention,
program, and services are used interchangeably (Reynolds, 2000). Data were drawn
from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (Chicago Longitudinal Study, 1999;
Reynolds, 1991, 1998, 2000). The original sample of 1,539 in the CLS included
the entire cohort of 989 children who attended the 20 Child-Parent Centers in
preschool and kindergarten in 1985-1986 and 550 children of the same age who
participated in an alternative all-day kindergarten program in 5 different
Chicago public schools in similar neighborhoods. These schools were randomly
selected from 27 sites participating in the Chicago Effective Schools Project
(CESP—an intervention that offered all-day kindergarten among other services).
As a consequence of living in school neighborhoods eligible for Title I
funding, all children in this cohort were eligible for and participated in
government-funded early childhood programs.

The
study sample consisted of 1,378 primarily African American youth who
participated in the CLS and had scores for two or more identifiable social and
emotional competency indicators by age 15 (Niles, Reynolds, Ou, & Lee,
2003; Niles, 2004). Eighty-nine percent of the original sample met this score
criterion.

Table 1 provides
descriptive statistics on group comparability for the original sample and the
study sample. Consistent with previous analyses, this table illustrates that
the program and comparison groups are similar on background characteristics,
including gender, race/ethnicity, and eligibility for free/reduced lunch (see
Reynolds, 2000; Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, &
Mann, 2001). A few exceptions are
worth noting. Youth who participated in the CPC program had a greater number of
parents who were high school graduates (66.5% vs. 59.3%) and fewer children per
household (2.2 versus 2.4). CPC families, however, did have
higher levels of household poverty (.777 vs. .729). CPC
and comparison group families had the same number of risk factors (2.9 vs.
2.8).

Attrition

Following the method of Jurs and Glass (1971), two-way analysis of variance for kindergarten cognitive abilities (for which all children had valid scores) revealed that there was no group by attrition interaction, F(1, 1531) = .201, p = .65.

Table 1
Equivalence of Program and Comparison Groups

Indicator

CPC Group

Non-CPC Groupn = 483

Significance

Percent of samples with 2 or more SEC indicators

90.5

87.8

.100

Percent girls

53.0

47.1

.037

Percent Black

93.0

93.0

.949

Percent High School completion for parent through child (8)

66.5

59.3

.016

Percent single parent by child age 8

70.2

66.9

.276

Percent parent was teen at child's birth

23.2

19.2

.158

Percent parent unemployment by age 8

64.9

60.8

.202

Percent ever reported receiving free lunch by age 8

92.3

92.8

.768

Percent child/neglect report by age 4

.016

.028

.135

Percent income level is 60% + poverty for school area

.777

.729

.048

Percent missing data from parent education or free lunch

22.5

25.4

.241

Family risk index (0-6)

2.95

2.83

.176

The
Chicago Child-Parent Center Program

The CPC program is a center-based early childhood intervention that provides
educational and family-support services to children during the ages of 3 to 9
(preschool to third grade) (Chicago Public Schools, 1974, 1985, 1987;
Reynolds, 2000). Children can receive up to 6 years of a comprehensive
language-based intervention—1-2 years of preschool, kindergarten, and up to 3
years extended services in elementary school. Located in the poorest
neighborhoods in Chicago, the centers serve 100 to 150 3- to 5-year-olds in
separate facilities or in wings of neighborhood schools. Each center is
directed by a head teacher and two coordinators—the parent-resource teacher
and the school-community representative.

The curriculum philosophy of the Child-Parent Centers has
consistently emphasized the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills in
language arts and math through a relatively structured but diverse set of learning
experiences (e.g., whole-class, small-group, child-focused activities, field
trips) (Reynolds, 2000).

Although social and emotional development was not explicitly
targeted in the curriculum, these affective outcomes were built into the
reading and language-based instructional activities (Reynolds, 2000). For
example, teachers provided developmentally appropriate feedback and positive
reinforcement, and they emphasized task accomplishment (Reynolds, 2000). However,
the foundational skills of recognizing letters and numbers, oral communication,
listening, and an appreciation for reading and drawing were of primary
importance (Reynolds, 2000).

The
parent-resource teacher implements the family-support component. The
school-community representative provides outreach services to families,
including resource mobilization, home visitation, and enrollment of children.
Ongoing staff development and health and nutrition services also are provided,
including health screening, speech therapy, and nursing and meal services (see
Reynolds, 2000; Sullivan, 1970).The child-to-staff ratio is limited to 17 to 2
in preschool and 25 to 2 in kindergarten, although parent volunteers reduce
these numbers further. After full-day or part-day kindergarten, continuing
services are provided in the affiliated schools under the direction of the
curriculum parent-resource teacher. Figure 1 illustrates the organizational
structure of the CPC program.

Child-Parent CenterPreschool/ Kindergarten
(Wing or Building)

Principal

Elementary School Grades 1 to 3

Head Teacher

Curriculum Parent-Resource Teacher

Outreach Services

Parent Component

Curriculum Component

Health Services

Parent Component

Curriculum Component

Schoolwide Services

School-Community Representative

Resource Mobilization

Home Visitation

Parent Conferences

Parent Resource Teacher

Parent Room Activities

Classroom Volunteering

School Activities

Home Support

Language Focus

Small Class Sizes

Inservice Training

Health Screening

Nursing Services

Free + Reduced-Price Meals

Parent Room Activities

Classroom Volunteering

School Activities

Home Support

Reduced Class Size

Teacher Aides

Instructional Materials

Individualized Instruction

Inservice Training

Health Services

School-Community Representative

Free + Reduced- Price Meals

Resource Mobilization

Figure 1. Child-Parent Center Program.

Outcome
Measures

This study divided measures of social and emotional
development into shorter- and longer-term outcomes. Shorter-term outcomes were
defined as being from ages 7-10 and included perceptions of self-competence at
ages 9 and 9-10 and social adjustment in school at ages 7 and 8-9.

The
longer-term outcomes are based on scores from age 10 through age 15 and include
measures of perceived self-competence (ages 11-12), social adjustment (ages
11-12), assertive social skills (ages 12-13), task orientation (ages 12-13),
acting-out behaviors (ages 12-13), frustration tolerance (ages 12-13),
shyness/anxiety (ages 12-13), peer relations (ages 12-13), total competency
(ages 12-13), and total problems at ages 12-13. Also included in the
longer-term outcomes is any special education placement for emotional or
behavioral disorder (EBD) through age 15. These outcome measures are detailed
by domain below.

Perceived
Self-Competence. The scales used are similar to Harter's (1982) dimension
of cognitive competence in the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple, 1995; Reynolds, 2000).
Both scales measure self-concept, including
self-efficacy (Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple, 1995; Reynolds, 2000). Previous
studies in the CLS have indicated that perceived self-competency has predictive
validity for later school achievement and is associated with program
participation (Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple,
1995).

Children
completed a 33-item survey questionnaire about self-perceptions of school
progress, family support, and school environment (Reynolds,
2000; Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple, 1995). These scales were administered
by classroom teachers in third- through sixth-grade years as part of a larger
survey of school experiences. Three scales were used: one at age 9 (10 items),
one at ages 9-10 (10 items), and one at ages 11-12 (12 items). Summed z-scores of the item responses were analyzed.
Z-scores were used because the age 9
and 9-10 self-competency scales had 10 items, while the age 11-12 measures had
12 items. For perceived self-competency at ages 9-10, those with a valid score
on both ages 9 and 10 on the perceived self-competency scales were averaged.
Those with a valid score for age 10 only were included in the analysis. Those
that did not have a valid score for age 10 were left missing and not included
in the analysis.

The items in the perceived self-competency scale at age 9
were coded 1-3, with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 3 being "strongly agree."
The items included the following: I get good grades in school; my friends like
me; I get in trouble at school; I get along well with others; I answer questions
in class; I give up when school work gets hard; I try hard in school; I do my
homework; I am smart; I do better in school than my classmates. Internal
consistency reliability for the scale was .74.

The items in the perceived self-competency scale at ages
9-10 and 11-12 were coded 1-4, with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 4 being
"strongly agree." The items included the following: I get good grades; my
classmates like me; I get in trouble
at school; I get along well with
others; I do my homework; I answer questions in class; I give up when school work gets too hard; when
I get bad grades, I try even harder; I try
hard in school; my teacher thinks I
will go far in school; I am smart; I do
better in school than my classmates. The ages 9-10 perceived self-competency
had an internal consistency reliability of .81.

Consistent with developmental theory,
some measures of perceived self-competency were different between the scales,
including additional measures of task persistence and self-efficacy. For
example, the items "when I get bad grades, I try even harder" and "my teacher thinks I will go far in
school" were added to the age 11-12 scales. The
ages 11-12 perceived self-competency had an internal consistency reliability of
.78.

Social Adjustment in School. Social adjustment in school was
measured by teacher ratings from ages 7 to 12. The scale was administered yearly
from grade 1 to grade 6. For social adjustment at age 7, only those with a
valid score on the age 7 scale were included. Those with a valid score for ages
8 and 9 and ages 11 and 12 on the social adjustment scales were averaged. Those
that did not have a valid score for the social adjustment measures were left
missing and not included in the analysis. The social adjustment scale is the
sum of six items rated from poor (1) to excellent (5).

Items
for the age 7 social adjustment measure include [the child] came to my class
ready to learn, completes work according to instructions, complies with
classroom rules, displays confidence in approaching learning tasks,
participates in group discussions, works and plays well with others. Internal
consistency reliability for the scale was .92.

Items for ages 8-9 and 11-12 social adjustment measures
include [the child] concentrates on work, follows directions, is self-confident,
participates in group discussions, interacts well with others, takes
responsibility for actions. Internal consistency reliability for the scales was
.92 and .90, respectively. It is notable that social adjustment in school has
been found to have significant predictive validity for later juvenile
delinquency (Mann, 2003).

The early adolescent (ages 12-13) measures of social and
emotional competence are drawn from subscales of the Teacher-Child Rating Scale
(T-CRS). The T-CRS (Hightower, Spinell,
& Lotyczewski, 1989) includes 20 positive social competence items
(rated from 1, "not at all," to 5, "very well") and 18 problem areas rated from
1, "not at all," to 5, "very well." These include overall competency, assertive
social skills, task orientation, peer social skills, overall problems,
acting-out behaviors, frustration tolerance, and shyness/anxiety. The T-CRS has
alpha and test-retest reliability within .87-.94. Evidence from various construct
and predictive validity studies supports the T-CRS as a measure of early
adolescent socioemotional adjustment (see Perkins & Hightower, 2002).

To address missing scores and increase sample size, this
study combined valid age 12 and age 13 scores on the T-CRS scales. For example,
if a grade 7 (age 13) score was missing, grade 6 (age 12) was substituted. If
there were valid scores on both age 12 and age 13 measures, an average was
computed.

Total Competency. To test robustness of both social and emotional competence, two additional
T-CRS scales were used. The first was a composite total competence scale, and
the second was a composite of the total problems scale. Twenty items load on
the total competence scale, derived from the subscales of assertive social
skills, task orientation, and peer social skills. Reliability for the total
competency scale was .91.

Assertive Social Skills. The assertive
social skills measure consists of 5 items and includes whether or not the child
defends own views under group pressure, is comfortable as leader, participates
in class discussions, expresses ideas willingly, and questions rules that seem
unfair or unclear. Reliability was .87.

Task
Orientation.
Task orientation consists of 5
items and includes measures such as [the child] completes work, is well organized,
functions well even with distractions, works well without supervision, and is a
self-starter. The scale had a reliability of .93.

Peer Social Skills.
Peer social skills were measured based on
the T-CRS subscale of peer relations at age 12-13. The peer social skills scale
is the sum of five items rated from poor (1) to excellent (5). Items were has
many friends, is friendly toward peers, makes friends easily, classmates will
sit near this child, and [the child] is well liked by classmates. The reliability
of the peer social skills scale was .93.

Total Problems. There
are 18 items on the total problems scale, including acting-out behaviors,
frustration tolerance, shyness/anxiety, and learning problems. The learning
problems item was not tested in the study because it is more closely related to
academic achievement than social and emotional domains. Reliability was
.89.

Acting-out
Behaviors. The acting-out behaviors measure consists of 6 items and
includes the child being disruptive in class, is fidgety, has difficulty sitting
still, disturbs others while they are working, constantly seeks attention, is
overly aggressive to peers (fights), is deviant, obstinate, stubborn. Reliability
was .94.

Frustration Tolerance. Frustration tolerance consists of 5 items
that include the child accepts things not going his/her way, ignores teasing,
accepts imposed limits, copes well with failure, and tolerates frustration. The
frustration tolerance scale had a reliability of .92.

Shyness/Anxiety.
Shyness/anxiety
consists of 6 items, which include the child is withdrawn, shy or timid,
anxious or worried, nervous, frightened, tense, does not express feelings,
unhappy or sad. Reliability was .84.

Emotional or Behavior Disorder (EBD) Special Education
Services. Those
children experiencing a severe emotional disorder were measured by using a
dichotomous indicator of placement in emotional or behavior disorder
special education services from ages 7-15. Table 2 provides the descriptive statistics for the outcome measures.
This measure, derived from
administrative records of the Chicago Public Schools, had a reliability of .94.

Table 2
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables

Indicators

Variable Name

Sample Size

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Std. Deviation

Perceived competence (age 9)*

Sfact3z

1119

-3.45

1.92

.002

1.00

Perceived competence (ages 9-10)*

Sfact6z

1085

-3.35

1.78

.001

1.00

Social adjustment (age 7)

Semat1

1113

6

30

19.03

6.12

Social adjustment (ages 8-9)

Semat23

1081

6

30

18.98

5.45

Perceived competence (ages 11-12)*

Sfact78z

1046

-3.28

2.49

-.004

1.00

Social adjustment (ages 11-12)

Semat78

1081

6

30

18.88

5.49

Assertive social skills (ages 12-13)

Askill67

1006

5

25

15.56

4.35

Acting-out behaviors (ages 12-13)

Actout67

1006

6

30

12.40

6.70

Task orientation (ages 12-13)

Taskor67

1006

5

25

14.48

5.19

Frustration tolerance (ages 12-13)

Frustol67

1006

5

25

14.38

4.90

Shyness/anxiety (ages 12-13)

Shyanx67

1006

6

28

9.98

4.37

Peer social skills (ages 12-13)

Peerss67

1006

5

25

16.73

4.10

Total competence (ages 12-13)

Tocomp67

1006

20

100

61.18

16.80

Total problems (ages 12-13)

Toprob67

1006

18

84

37.20

15.26

Any EBD (age 15)

Speebd15d

1352

0

1

.030

.170

*Indicates z-scores.

Explanatory Measures

CPC Program Participation. Any preschool participation was coded 1 for children
who participated in the CPC preschool component for 1 or 2 years and 0 for
children who did not participate. All children who participated in CPC
preschool also enrolled in CPC kindergarten. Non-CPC preschool participants
enrolled in all-day kindergarten programs at age 5 (either a CESP program or
the kindergarten program in the centers).

Covariates. Several
sociodemographic indicators collected from school entry to 10th grade served
as covariates in this study.

Any Follow-on Participation. This measure was coded 1 for children who participated in the CPC
primary-grade intervention component during grades 1 to 3 (in 1986-89) and 0
for children who did not participate but were enrolled in a regular school
program. Follow-on participation was open to all children who enrolled in the
elementary schools where the CPC program was located.

Gender of Child. Girls
were coded 1, and boys were coded 0, as obtained from school records.

Race/Ethnicity of Child. African American children
were coded 1, and Hispanic and Caucasian children were coded 0.

Family Risk Index. This multiple risk index (0-6)
measures socioeconomic disadvantage. The index provides a cumulative summary of
the co-occurrence or a "pile-up" of risk factors that are frequently associated
with child and family functioning (Rutter, 1987; Bendersky & Lewis, 1994). The
risk indicators were selected based on their well-known associations with child
and family well-being (Bendersky & Lewis, 1994).

The index was the sum of six dichotomously coded risk
factors measured from family surveys or school records from preschool to age 8
as follows: (1) parent did not complete high school, (2) eligibility for a
fully subsidized lunch defined as a family income at or below 130% of the
federal poverty line, (3) residence in a school neighborhood in which 60% or
more of children are in low-income families, (4) residence in a single-parent
family, (5) parent not employed full or part time, and (6) four or more
children in family. Neighborhood poverty was obtained from school records. The
four family measures came from parent reports on surveys or in telephone
interviews when children were age 8. Age 8 risk measures were used because they represent the most proximal indicators of risk as related to the study outcomes.

These risk indicators were chosen because they were the most
plausible correlates of both program participation and measured outcomes as
judged from earlier studies with these data (Reynolds, 1994, 1995, 2000). The
risk index may be a more reliable indicator of preexisting differences between
program and comparison groups than any single indicator or a few indicators. Further,
as predicted by resilience theory, cumulative or multiple risks have been found
to be substantially associated with developmental functioning (Rutter, 1987;
Bendersky & Lewis, 1994), and this is better captured with a risk index
than with several indicator variables entered as main effects (Reynolds,
2000).

Moreover, because several of the risk indicators were
measured in different years (some during or after program participation), the
risk index was used to proxy risk status at the time of program entry. This
measure has the advantage of providing estimates of program effects that are
conservative. To the extent that program participation affects these later
measures (e.g., parent education, employment status), estimated program effects
will be smaller than would otherwise be expected (Reynolds, 2000).

Child Abuse/Neglect. Children
who had an administrative record of any child abuse or neglect (0-4) were coded
1, otherwise 0.

CPC Program Sites. Twenty
dichotomous indicators of CPC site participation were used to control for
unobserved factors of the 20 unique communities that may influence the
results.

Missing Data Variable. This measure was coded 1 if no answer was provided on parent education, marital
status, or a question about the number of children in the household. Families
who did not answer these questions were assumed to have resided in a high-poverty
neighborhood, have less than a high school degree, to be a single parent, or to
be unmarried. A parent who answered all background questions received a 0. This
variable was included to determine whether there was a difference between
groups when a score was imputed for the family. Twenty-two percent of parents
did not answer questions in one of the above listed categories and were given a
code of 1 for missing data. By estimating the influence of missing data, the
sample size does not decrease, thus increasing statistical power while
accounting for the influence of imputed data (Cohen & Cohen, 1983).

Data Analysis

Regression analysis was used to test the research questions, which included
study, child, family, and program variables as covariates. Adjusted means were
estimated using Analysis of Covariance. Based on the regression results, effect
sizes (ES) were estimated. ES is a standardized, scale-free measure of the
relative size of the effect of an intervention in standard deviation units
(Rossi, Freeman, & Lipsey, 2004). Effect sizes were calculated using the
following formula: control group - mean of treatment group / total sample
standard deviation. ES is useful for quantifying effects measured on unfamiliar
or arbitrary scales and for comparing the relative sizes of effects from
different studies (Rossi, Freeman, & Lipsey, 2004).

Early childhood research literature has suggested that there
are two ways to interpret effect sizes—statistical and practical significance.
Practically meaningful effect sizes have been defined as d = .20, while a medium effect is d = .50 and a large effect is d
= .80 (Cohen, 1988). According to Cohen (1988), an ES of .20 is equivalent to a
correlation of .10 between program
participation and outcome (Reynolds, 2000; Rosenthal, 1991). Values of .20 or
above were interpreted as being practically significant. Because of adequate
sample size, significance was set at p
< .05, two-tailed.

Results

Shorter-Term Outcomes

Perceived Self-Competence. After
adjusting for covariates, no group differences were found. Youth who
participated in the CPC program had a mean perceived self-competency rate of
.003 compared with -.008 in the comparison group (p = .896) at age 9. Those youth who participated in the program had
a mean perceived self-competency rate at ages 9-10 of .099 compared with -.009
(p = .469) in the comparison group.

Social Adjustment in School. CPC participants had a
significantly higher level of social adjustment in school at age 7 than the
comparison group (20.1 vs. 18.6; p <
.001). CPC participants maintained this advantage on social adjustment in
school at ages 8-9 (19.2 vs. 18.4; p =
.038). These findings suggest that children in the CPC preschool group
experienced a social advantage that persisted up to 4 years post-program. This finding
is consistent with previous studies of children's social and emotional
development since the proximal nature of the outcomes to the intervention would
be expected to persist in the short term.
Table 3 displays the unadjusted and adjusted means for the shorter-term
outcomes.

Table 3 Means of Shorter-Term Measures of Social and Emotional Competency

As shown in Tables 3 and 4, it is important to note that no "ceiling
or floor" effects were seen for the unadjusted means for either group. For
example, the means are in the middle or average range, not consistently too
high or too low. This result suggests that the measures can reliably detect
difference between groups. Additionally, the correlation coefficients among
measures were low to moderate, which suggests that the indicators used in our
analysis were measuring distinct concepts.

Longer-Term Outcomes

Perceived Self-Competence Ages 11-12. The youth who
participated in the CPC preschool program had a mean perceived self-competency
of .063 compared with -.123 in the comparison group (p = .083). This outcome remained nonsignificant across model
specifications.

Social Adjustment Ages 11-12. CPC youth had a mean
level of social adjustment in school of 19.6 compared with 18.5 in the
comparison group (p = .048). This finding
is consistent with the shorter-term findings and suggests that CPC participants
maintained their advantage over the comparison group over time.

Total Competence Ages 12-13. Using the composite
measure of the T-CRS total competency scale, we found that youth who
participated in the CPC preschool program demonstrated a trend of higher
overall competency compared with the comparison group (62.0 vs. 59.4; p = .089).

Assertive Social Skills Ages 12-13. Those youth who
participated in the CPC preschool program also exhibited higher assertive
social skills by ages 12-13 compared with the comparison group (15.8 vs. 15.0; p = .086).

Task Orientation Ages 12-13. Youth who participated
in the CPC preschool program did not have a significantly higher mean of task
orientation by ages 12-13 compared with the comparison group (14.6 vs. 14.0; p = .179).

Peer Social Skills Ages 12-13. Youth who participated
in the CPC preschool program also did not have a significantly higher mean of
positive peer relations compared with the comparison group (17.0 vs. 16.2; p = .084).

Total Problems Ages 12-13. As with total competency,
the total problems composite found no significant difference for those youth
who participated in the CPC preschool program compared with the comparison
group (36.4 vs. 38.5; p = .124).

Acting-Out Behavior Ages 12-13. Youth who
participated in the CPC preschool program had only slightly lower acting-out
behaviors than the comparison group (12.1 vs. 12.9, p = .207).

Frustration Tolerance Ages 12-13. While not significant, youth who
participated in the CPC preschool program demonstrated a greater ability to
tolerate frustration by ages 12-13 compared with the comparison group (14.5 vs.
14.1; p = .381).

Shyness/Anxiety Ages 12-13. Youth who participated in
the CPC preschool program also demonstrated less shyness/anxiety by ages 12-13
compared with the comparison group (9.8 vs. 10.2; p = .400), although this result was not statistically
significant.

Emotional and Behavioral
Disturbance Placement (EBD). Although not significant, the CPC preschool
group had lower rates of EBD placement by age 15 compared with the comparison
group (.029 vs. .031; p = .869). Table
4 displays the unadjusted and adjusted means for the longer-term outcomes.

Table 4
Means of CPC Preschool on Longer-Term Measures of Social and Emotional Competency

Effect Sizes for
Questions 1 and 2

There has been a shift from considering only results of statistical
significance testing to the inclusion of measures of practical significance
(Levin, 1993). Statistical significance is concerned with whether a research
result is due to chance, whereas practical significance
is concerned with whether the result is useful in the "real world" (Cohen,
1988; Levin, 1993).

Tables 5 and 6 detail the effect size results for the outcomes
in the presented study. Effect size results ranged between .15 and .45,
reflecting a modest effect for all short-term social and emotional competency
outcomes. Although most effect sizes were moderate, they were largely close to
the level of practical significance (.20). The largest ES was in the social
adjustment in school by age 7 (d = .45)
and social adjustment in school at ages 8-9 (d = .33). This result suggests that the CPC preschool group did
almost one-half standard deviation better than the comparison group,
respectively. For the longer-term outcomes, effect size results ranged between
-.19 (acting-out behaviors) and .34 (social adjustment in school). The
coefficients reflect a modest ES for many longer-term social and emotional
competency outcomes.

Aside from social adjustment, which had the largest effect
sizes (.33 to .45), the overall pattern of findings (most effect sizes are in
the .20 range) helps identify meaningful effects that are worthy of policy
intervention for social and emotional development. For example, an effect size
of .20 (or a correlation of .10) on acting-out behaviors may not be statistically
significant (.05 or less), but to the teacher, social worker, or parent, it is
at this level that a visible difference can be seen (Levin, 1993). Moreover,
the sizes of the effects found in the presented study are within the range
found in other programs (Lipsey & Wilson, 1993). Levin (1993) reminds
us that statistical significance and practical significance should not be
viewed as competing concepts but complementary ones (p. 379,
italics in original).

It should also be noted that while effect size analysis is
useful for comparing the impact of interventions on outcomes, the Cohen index
does not distinguish among the importance of the outcome measures, nor does it
address issues of program efficiency or cost effectiveness (Levin, 1993). An
additional limitation of ES is that it does not provide information about slope
(or rate of change) in the treatment data series (Levin, 1993). For parsimony,
the hierarchal regression coefficients can be found in Tables 7 and 8.

Table 5 Main Effects on Shorter-Term Social and Emotional Competence Indicators

Discussion

The current study adds to the body of literature on the
social and emotional development of a large, low-income, inner-city sample of
children that participated in the Chicago CPC program. Specifically, this study
offers three unique contributions to existing literature.

First, this study
contributed to the field through analysis of the long-term effects of the CPC
program on the social and emotional development of participants. The CPC
program is a public, large-scale, center-based early intervention that
provides comprehensive educational and family-support services to economically
disadvantaged children from preschool to early elementary school.

Most of the findings
related to the effects of early intervention programs on social and emotional
development have come from small-scale studies, such as the High/Scope Perry
Preschool Program, the Early Training Project, and the Philadelphia Study.
Among these limited studies, most were from model programs with small sample
sizes. These small samples provide little statistical power to detect
large effects and limit the generalizability and statistical conclusions of the
findings. Findings from large-scale programs,
such as Head Start, have not been consistent (McKey,
Condelli, & Ganson, 1985; U.S.
General Accounting Office, 1997), and the quality of most studies has not been
sufficient to make findings meaningful.

A second contribution is
that both shorter- and longer-term outcomes were examined. By
considering children's social and emotional development between the ages of 7
and 12, this study adds to existing literature by suggesting that early
childhood programs can, in addition to cognitive advantages, provide a positive
social and emotional benefit to participants.

Although immediate
positive effects of early intervention on social and emotional competence have
been found in a few studies (McKey, Condelli,
& Ganson, 1985; Beller, 1983; Gray, Ramsey, & Klaus, 1983), long-term effects have yet to be thoroughly investigated. No
studies use such a large sample, to our knowledge, to examine early childhood
program participation on social and emotional development through age 15.

Third, social and emotional development was tested using a
broader framework than previous studies using the CLS database. The only
previous study exploring CPC effects on social and emotional competence
considered children's perceived school competence in grade 6 (Reynolds, Mehana, & Temple, 1995). What is more,
targeting young children who exhibit early indicators of poor social and
emotional development, such as those discussed in this study, is seen as key to
prevention efforts and has significant cost implications as well. A recent
National Institute of Mental Health sponsored study revealed that poor social
and emotional development from ages 0-8 costs over $300 billion annually (Niles, 2004). This includes productivity
losses of $150 billion on the part of the parent(s), health care costs of $70
billion, and other costs (e.g., criminal justice) of $80 billion (Niles, 2004).
In 2000, our nation's direct service costs and indirect costs from poor
childhood mental health totaled more than $313 billion (Niles, 2004). That cost was
more than cancer ($180.2 billion in 2000) (Niles,
2004).

Overall, children's participation in a CPC was associated
with positive social and emotional competence, especially in the shorter term.
Lasting effects of program participation were found through early adolescence
on a few outcomes as well. Therefore, it appears that the early effort put
forth by teachers and parents can have lasting social and emotional benefits in
addition to the initial cognitive enhancement gained in the preschool
classroom.

Limitations of the Study

This study has four limitations. First, this study is based
upon a quasi-experimental design, and quasi-experimental studies are often
limited in internal validity. Although robustness testing on the outcomes using
regression analyses was conducted, further testing is necessary to decrease the
likelihood that findings may be spurious or an artifact of another threat to
internal validity (Cook & Campbell, 1979; Reynolds, 1998).

The comparability of the CPC children and the comparison
group children and sample attrition also deserves note. The groups were found
to be similar on nearly all characteristics at the beginning of the study, the
attrition of the study participants over time is similar in the two groups, and
the assignment of participants to the program is largely related to
participating families residing in a neighborhood served by an elementary
school that includes a CPC program (Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, & Mann,
2001; Reynolds & Temple, 1995). This limitation, however, is somewhat
mitigated by the extensive analysis conducted by numerous researchers to
identify differences between the two groups (see Reynolds, 2000).

A second
limitation relates to the amount of measurement error for the outcome scales.
Although found in most scales in social research, measurement error is
especially true with psychological tests. However, this limitation is somewhat
corrected for since it makes the findings more conservative and suggests that
the findings may perhaps be stronger if more reliable measures were used. Although
the reliability of the Social and Emotional Maturity Scale and T-CRS scales
used in this study ranged from .7 to .9, this remains a limitation because
reliability sets a limit on validity.

A third
limitation is that this study assessed only some social and emotional
indicators that are related to children's mental health. A more comprehensive
set of outcomes may have allowed consideration of additional mental health
problems, including depression, schizophrenia, and conduct disorders.

A final limitation pertains to the generalizability or external
validity of study results. This study specifically explored an urban minority
sample that lived in some of the highest poverty areas in the inner city of
Chicago, Illinois. This study therefore has a limited generalizability,
although there is some evidence that these findings may be replicable because
similar findings were evident in other intervention programs such as the Perry
Preschool Program and recent evaluations of Head Start (Garces, Thomas, &
Currie, 2000).

References

Barnett, W.
Steven. (1998). Long-term effects on cognitive development and school success.
In W. Steven Barnett & Sarane Spence Boocock (Eds.), Early care and
education for children in poverty: Promises, programs, and long-term results (pp.
11-44). Albany: State University of New York Press.

McKey, Ruth H.; Condelli, Larry; & Ganson, Harriet C.
(1985). The impact of Head Start on
children, families, and communities. Final report on the Head Start Evaluation,
Synthesis, and Utilization Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.

Niles,
Michael D. (2004). Participation in early childhood intervention: Does it influence
children's social and emotional development? Unpublished
doctoral dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Niles, Michael D.; Reynolds, Arthur J.;
Ou, Suh-Ruu; & Lee, Jung-Eun. (2003, January). Can early intervention affect
children's social and emotional competence? Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal
Study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for
Social Work and Research, Washington, DC.

Schultz, Sheila R. (2000). Socioemotional
development of low-income children in the public school intervention program. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Falls Church, VA.

U.S. General
Accounting Office. (1997).Head
Start: Research provides little information on impact of current program: Report
to the Chairman, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives.Washington, DC: U.S. General
Accounting Office.

Author Information

Michael Niles is assistant
professor of social work at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Research
interests of Dr. Niles include early childhood intervention programs and
American Indian children, development of social and emotional competence, First
Nations Peoples, children's mental health, prevention science, and program
evaluation.

Arthur Reynolds is professor
of child development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Research interests
of Dr. Reynolds include prevention research and program evaluation, child
development, and family and school influences on low-income children.

Mark
Nagasawa is a doctoral student
in the College of Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Research
interests of Mr. Nagasawa include early childhood intervention programs and
collaborative action between preschool and K-12 educators.

Mark Nagasawa, M.S.W.Arizona State University
College of EducationTelephone:
480-965-454
Email: mnagasaw@osbornnet.org